This decoratively sculpted and square-pointed sandstone headstone with floral elements and scrolls, in the parish area of St Edward, is located three rows west of the central path and 25 yards north of the centre circle. The face of the stone is badly weathered and the inscription in danger of being lost.

Inscription

Sacred to the memory of William Warren Haggis
who died January 7th 1860 aged 33.

Also of Henry Samuel Haggis
who died at Melbourne, Australia July 25th 1858 aged 27.God, of a beautiful necessity, is love in all He doeth.[Love, a brilliant fire, to gladden or consume:] [Martin Farquhar Tupper]

William Warren Haggis (c.1827-60)

William was born in Cambridge in 1826 or 1827, and baptised at All Saints’ Church (then opposite St John’s College in what is now the triangle of All Saints’ Passage) on 23 (or 28) January 1827. He was the son of William Haggis, college servant of Trinity College, and his wife Susan, of 23 Rose Crescent in central Cambridge. His siblings were Susannah (c.1826‒), Henry (c.1829‒) and Edward (c.1833‒94). In the household also in 1841 were R Holmes, butcher (22) and Elizabeth Thomas, servant (15).

On the 1851 census, while his parents and siblings continued to live in Rose Crescent (together with a niece, Mary Peters (12), a servant, Mary Ann Budell (22), and an undergraduate lodger, William S Jones (19)), William Warren himself was lodging elsewhere, at the home of Charles Henry Carless, wife and children, on St Andrew’s Hill. Whereas three other lodgers in that household were students of Emmanuel and St John’s Colleges, William is recorded as ‛college cook’ at Corpus Christi College.

William Warren died on 7 January 1860, unmarried, at the age of 33, his address then being Free School Lane. His body was buried in Mill Road Cemetery on 13 January, in row XXXI of the parish area of St Edward, in plot 13, at a depth of 9 feet. William died intestate, and his effects, worth less that £100, were granted to his brother Edward (see below).

The inscription suggests that Henry Samuel was born in 1830 or 1831. But dates in baptismal registers conflict with this. There are two competing entries: the baptism on 9 October 1825 of ‛Henry son of Wm & Susan … servant’ at All Saints’ Church (where brother William Warren was later baptized); alternatively the baptism on 19 October 1826 of ‛Henry Samuel of William & Susan of Rose Crescent college servant’ at St Michael’s Church (where brother Edward was later baptized).

The relevant census returns give yet another picture: in 1841 Henry Haggis is aged 11, placing his birth at 1829 or 1830; in 1851 he is aged 22, placing his birth at 1828 or 1829 (depending on the date at which the census was taken in each case).

What we can say with certainty is that this Henry Samuel Haggis attended Mr Barber’s school in Cambridge and was then admitted to Sidney Sussex College, in the University of Cambridge, on 1 July 1851, beginning his studies in the autumn (Venn). Whether he completed those studies is unclear. This Henry was born on 28 September 1828, his father being ‛William, of Cambridge’.

Henry Samuel set sail from Liverpool in the ship Senator (Captain: Roland F Coffin), arriving in Melbourne, Australia on 30 April 1858. He died there three months later, on 25 July. What took him to Australia is unclear, and the cause of his death is so far unknown.

Other members of the family
SIBLINGS: Susannah married John Cottrell, cheesemonger, also of Rose Crescent, on 29 December 1846; brother Edward, purveyor, married Emily (née Tebbutt), and was by 1868 living in Rose Crescent (see newpaper advert (CIP)), and the couple had children Clifford (c.1868‒), Edith Marian (c.1869‒), Herbert (c.1872‒), Percy Edward (c.1874‒) and Arthur Kershaw (c.1877‒) — Edward and Emily were buried in the St Paul parish area, Edward on 7 April 1894 aged 62, Emily on 18 November 1889 aged 58 ( Edward and Emily Haggis).

PARENTS: William died at the New Year 1862, and Susan (called Susanna) on 6 January 1871 — both were buried in the St Michael parish area, William on 8 January aged 71, Susan on 12 January aged 81 (MC78).